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(No Model.)

V. ARNOLD an P. E; WETMORB.

WIRE FENCE.

No. 484,387. Patented Oct. 18, 1892.

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, .UNITED Srrnrns PATENT rrrcn.

VINDEX ARNOLD AND FRANK E. VETMORE, OF MARSHALL, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS OFONE-THIRD TO HIRAM RYDER, OF SAME FLAOE.

WIRE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,387, dated October18, 1892. Application filed April 7, 1892. Serial No. 428,116. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, VINDEX ARNOLD and FRANK E. WETMORE, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Marshall, in the county of Calhoun and Stateof Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WireFences; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of l the invention,such as will enable others skilledin the art to vwhich it appertains to make and use the same:`

'Our invention relates to improvements in wire fences; and its objectsare to provide an improved stay-wire to support and strengthen theline-wires and a simple and efficient device for stretching andtightening the linewires.

With these ends in view the invention contemplates a stay-wire composedof two strands tightly twisted together, forming apertures to looselyreceive the intermediate line-Wires, and the ends of said twistedstrands of the stay-wire being wound around the top and bottom linewiresand secured rigidly thereto, and thus held from displacement thereon.

Our invention consists, further, of certain details of construction andarrangement of parts, as will be fully pointed out hereinafter.

To enable others to more readily understand the invention, we haveillustrated the same in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l isa perspective view of a section of my improved fence. y Fig. 2 is adetail enlarged view of the stay-wire.

Referring to the drawings,in which like letters of reference denotecorresponding parts in all the figures, A designates the posts of thefence, which are firmly embedded in the ground, and suitable braces aare joined by a transverse bolt a to a tension-rod B, Ysecured at thebottom of said post A, by means of which the post is maintained in arigid upright position. A plate h may be placed on the ground beneaththe ends of the parallel braces o. to protect them, as shown. Theseposts A are arranged at any convenient distance apart, and intermediateposts b are provided to properly sustain the line-wires O of the fence.These line-wires C are run through staples J or apertures in said postsb', and they may be of any number and form desired.

The stay-wires D are arranged on the linewires at any suitable distanceapart, and any number of such stays may be used, and l will particularlydescribe one of them.

Each stay-wire D is composed of two strands of wire, which are tightlyand firmly twisted together, leaving at suitable intervals smallopenings d, through which the line-wires pass loosely. hese two strandsof wire are separated at each end of the stay-wire, and the ends thereofd d are wound tightly around the top and bottom line-wires, as shown inFigs. l and 2. It will be observed that the stay-wire is rigidly securedto the top and bottom line-Wires, as described; but the intermediateline-wires pass loosely through the openings d in the stay-wire, and thestaywire is thus caused to act as a spiral spring to hold the line-wiresin their proper positions. If the stay-wire is moved laterally in eitherdirection by extraneous force or pressure, as shown in dotted lines inFig. l, the top and bottom line-wires will be drawn out of their normalhorizontal parallel positions, because the stay-wire is rigidly securedthereto, and when the pressure is removed from said stay-wire theline-wires willreturn to their normal proper positions, whichstraightens out the stay-wire and permits the same to assume itsvertical position. As the stay- Wireis loose on the intermediateline-wires and secured only to the top and bottom linewires, we are ableto Withdraw any one or more of said intermediate wires to repair a breakwithoutinterfering with the other wires, and also if any weight isimposed on the top line-wire to depress it the stay will bulge or moveto one side, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, and not depress orotherwise affect the other line-wires.

We are aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts anddetails of construetion of our invention may be made without departingfrom the spirit or sacrificing the advantages thereof, and we thereforereserve the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the scopeof our invention.

Having thus fully described our invention,

what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a wire fence, the combination, with the IOO line-wires, of a staycomprising two strands of wire twisted together and having openings forthe free passage of the intermediate linewires, and the ends of thestrands of saidstaywire being securely twisted around the top and bottomline-wires in opposite directions,

for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described stay-wire for wire fences, comprising the twostrands of wire t twisted directly together at intermediate points oftheir length and forming a series of spaced loops or eyes for theline-wires of the fencey the ends of the stay-strandsbeing free andextended in opposite directionsfrom each I 5 other to adapt said strandsof the stay-wire to be attached directly and rigidly to the top andbottom line-wires, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof we affix oursig-natures zo iripresence of twowitnesses'.

VINDEX ARNOLD.

FRANK E. WETMORE.

Witnesses:

OSCAR F. COLEMAN, ALICE HADDEN.

